Now’s The Time to Plant Chili Peppers from Seed, But They’ll Need Protection

If you want to plant chili peppers from seed, now is the time to get them started. But you’ll need a greenhouse or some way to protect the young seedlings from frost that’ll surely appear before temperatures warm this spring.

Sweet varieties like bell peppers take 60-90 days from germination to harvest. Hot varieties take even longer, up to 150 days. If you wait until it warms to plant seed, you’ll severely limit your harvest before cool temps arrive in the fall.

You could always wait until the spring and buy pepper transplants. But nurseries and garden centers usually stock only the most popular varieties – bell peppers, jalapenos, banana peppers, cayenne and the like. Maybe you’ll find poblanos or cubaneles. But if you want to grow any of the thousands of varieties of unique chilis, you’ll need to grow them on your own from seed.

The process is simple enough. Fill some seed trays with seed-starting mix (not potting soil). Place one seed in each cell. Cover it with a dusting of vermiculite. Keep the soil moist as the seeds germinate. Once they grow two pairs of true leaves, start applying liquid fertilizer every couple of weeks. Pot them up into four-inch pots if they get rootbound. Once the threat of frost has passed, transplant outside.

The most distinguishing characteristic of peppers is their spiciness. This comes from a mild toxin called capsaicin. This chemical gives peppers their genus name, Capsicum. Capsaicin produces a burning sensation when it comes into contact with mammalian tissue such as the human tongue, nose and eyes. It’s only really present in the white pithy tissue that surrounds the seeds in pepper fruits. For that reason, you can usually tame the hotness of spicy peppers by removing it.

Capsaicin benefits peppers by repelling mammals which might eat it. Mammals have molar teeth that tend to grind and destroy the seeds. However, birds are immune from the effects of capsaicin. Birds tend to swallow the seeds whole. They can pass through the bird’s digestive tract and germinate later. Accordingly, seeds of peppers plants are primarily distributed by birds in their native regions.

While most mammals are repelled by hot peppers, many humans enjoy the spiciness. Those who enjoy them can experience a sense of euphoria when eating hot peppers. Eating too much can be an overwhelming experience. Plain water does not alleviate the effects. Capsaicin is not water soluble. It is soluble by alcohol, so having a drink may tame the heat somewhat. Milk works best, though. One of the organic chemicals in milk forms an emulsion with capsaicin, rendering it less spicy. Some people think that peppers can cause stomach ulcers. However, at least one academic study indicates that capsaicin may actually relieve the symptoms of a peptic ulcer rather than being the cause of it. In concentrated amounts, capsaicin can be deadly.A2012 study documented a 25-year-old male who suffered a heart attack after ingesting concentrated cayenne pepper pills for weight loss.

The amount of capsaicin in pepper varies widely depending on variety. The Scoville scale is a measurement of the spiciness in chili peppers. An American pharmacist,Wilbur Scoville, developed a test in 1912 to measure the spiciness in peppers. Bell peppers and some banana peppers have little capsaicin and therefore taste quite mild. They measure from 0 to 500 on the Scoville scale. Cubanelles and poblanos measure about 5002,500 on the scale. Jalapenos have a medium amount, around 10,000 on the scale. Cayennes peppers measure about 25,000 to 50,000. Habaneros, which are my upper limit, measure from 100,000 to 350,000. The famed Carolina Reaper can get up above 1 million on the scale. The newest extreme variety, known as Pepper X, was developed by chili breeder Ed Currie, who also developed the Carolina Reaper. Pepper X measures an average of over 2.6 million on the Scoville scale, which has been recognized as the hottest chili pepper in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records in 2023.